more largely expressed must needs be sound and consonant to the Principles and Practice of the Nonconformist Brethren and may safely be subscribed by them The Words of the 34th Article are these It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all Places one or utterly like for at all times they have been divers and changed according to the diversity of Countries Times and Mens Manners so that nothing be ordained against God's Word Whosoever through his private Judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by Common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that other may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common Order of the Church and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Every Particular or National Church hath Authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by Man's Authority so that all things be done to edifying 5. If we desire a publick Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England touching this matter there is that of Mr. Thomas Rogers perused and by the lawful Authority of the Church of England allowed to be publick He in that Exposition declareth that the Church hath no Power to appoint what Rites or Ceremonies she will for she must decree none which be either for their own Nature impious or for Use superstitious or for their Weight over-heavy and grievous to be born or for their Worthiness in the Eyes of the Ordainers either of equal Price or of more account than the very Ordinances of God or against the Liberty of Christians and to the entangling of them again with the Yoke of Bondage or last of all any way contrary to the Commandments Word and Will of God But the Rites Ceremonies and Constitutions of the Church they must make altogether and tend both to the nourishing and increase of Love Friendship and Quietness among Christians and also to the retaining of God's People in the holy Service Worship and Fear of God according to the Rule of the Apostle Let all things be done honestly and by Order All Churches Reformed consent hereunto So Mr. Thomas Rogers pag. 105 106. No Nonconforming Brother will gainsay this 6. The Articles do not say that the Church hath Power to decree the Cross in Baptism nor is any Man obliged by his Subscription to them to declare that she hath but only such humane Rites or Ceremonies circa Sacra as be decent useful and no way contrary to God's Word Whether the Cross in Baptism and the Surplice in particular be decent useful and no way contrary to God's Word is a Question of another nature and doth not come into the present Debate For if it should be supposed that the Church hath no Power to decree the Cross in Baptism and the Surplice as being inconvenient and no way necessary yet will it not thence follow that she hath no Power to decree such other Rites and Ceremonies circa Sacra as are confessedly expedient and useful as to swear with the right Hand lift up to Heaven or laid upon the Bible and to give notice to the People at what time to assemble for publick Worship by ringing or tolling of a Bell. Even Dr. Ames himself whom no one acquainted with Church-Affairs can suspect to have been partial in this matter and too favourable to humane Ceremonies circa Sacra doth acknowledg that if there be no Error in humane Appointment touching the Place and Hour of God's publick Worship and the like things Constitutio illa habenda sit quasi simpliciter divina Medull Theol. l. 2. c. 14. num 28. that Constitution is to be held as it were simply Divine For that the Church do assemble for God's publick Worship at that Hour which all things considered is most convenient he grants is God's Will Now the ringing or tolling of a Bell is in the Judgment of Nonconformists themselves and all other sober Persons an apt Mean a prudential Ceremony Rite or Token of Man's Appointment For notifying to the Congregation at what Hour to assemble like the use of the Silver Trumpets under the Law Numb 10. And therefore the Hour so appointed being meet and convenient for God's publick Worship according to Dr. Ames's Concession in the foresaid Place Agnosci debet quasi à Deo constituta it ought to be acknowledged as it were appointed by God and consequently the foresaid humane Ceremony whereby the Hour is notified Which is sufficient for my present Purpose that there is nothing at all in the 20th and 34th Articles of the Church of England repugnant to the Principles of the Nonconformists but a full Agreement between both Sides as to this part of Subscription 7. For my part I think that the Church hath no power to decree the Cross in Baptism or any the like humane Ceremony therein My Reason is because Baptism it self is a Divine Ceremony and the Cross is a humane Ceremony and the Church hath no power to decree and annex a humane Ceremony to a Divine it being plainly superfluous and unnecessary there is neither Precept nor Example in all the Book of God to warrant such a Decree The Church hath no Power but for Edification 2 Cor. 10.8 and 2 Cor. 13.10 She may impose none but necessary things Acts 15.28 such as be some way necessary to Order Unity or Decency in God's Service which the Cross in Baptism antecedently to humane Imposition is not It is necessary that Baptism be done in a fit Place at a meet Hour by one authorized in a decent Garment in a sit Posture with fit Words and decent external Reverence and Solemnity but there is no necessity at all of the Cross or any the like humane Ceremony in Baptism Neither the Light of Nature nor the Institution of Christ nor the Practice of the Apostles and first Churches planted by their Ministry and recorded in Scripture for a Rule and Pattern to all succeeding Churches to the end of the World do warrant any such Decree and Imposition All needful Circumstances all that is any way requisite to the orderly decent laudable holy just and exemplary dispensing and partaking of Baptism may be observed without the Cross or any the like humane Ceremony To say the contrary is to reproach the Institution of Christ and his Apostles and the Churches planted by their Ministry and to set the Wisdom of Man above the Wisdom of God and bring in Arbitrary Government into the Church and lay a Foundation for numberless unnecessary humane Ceremonies in God's Worship as in the Papacy and great Evils and Desolations in the Church by inflicting doleful Penalties upon worthy and good Men who out of Conscience refuse Conformity to such unnecessary Decrees as the Event doth sadly manifest But that it is unlawful to use the Cross in Baptism while imposed by the Supream Authority of the Nation under
pain of Deprivation is more than I can prove neither will I judg conscientious Nonconformists who meekly dissent 8. Again the Nonconforming Brethren scruple Subscription to the 35th Article of the Church of England touching Homilies which Article stands upon two Points First that the two Books of Homilies contain a godly and wholsom and necessary Doctrine Secondly that therefore they judg them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly The former Point I cannot think the Nonconforming Brethren who have read the Homilies will deny The Article doth not say that there is nothing in any of the Homilies savouring of humane Weakness and Imperfection for the main they may and do contain a godly wholsom and necessary Doctrine though there may perhaps be in them some tolerable Defects as is incident to most good Books not divinely inspired and even to the best Translation of the holy Scriptures Touching the latter Point the Nonconforming Brethren by their Subscription to the 6th Article must needs own and allow that the Apocrypha-Books as Hierom saith the Church doth read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners but yet doth it not apply to stablish any Doctrine This plainly intimates that they are not against all reading of other Books than the Bible in the Church due distinction being put between the one and the other Neither will they condemn but rather approve the French Protestant Churches heretofore who in the want of daily Pastors did in many Places use to read both privately and publickly Mr. Calvin's Sermons upon Job as Mr. Beza in his Preface to them doth relate And we may well think that this and no other was the Intention of the Composers of this Article and of the Homilies as thinking it better in the want of Pastors qualified with ministerial Gifts and Ability to compose edifying Sermons-daily and continually of their own that the People have sound and godly Sermons of others composing read to them in publick than be without all publick Instruction This Sense will well stand with the Words of the Article and it is agreeable to the Opinion both of Conforming and Nonconforming Brethren And therefore as to this also I may well conclude that there is no difference between the two Parties 9. There is but one more Article unsubscribed by the Nonconforming Brethren and that is the 36th concerning the Book of Ordination Touching which if the Episcopal Brethren will own the Nonconforming Brethren ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be valid and will cordially embrace them as Brethren and Fellow-Ministers as in Conscience they are bound all other Matters will either be accorded or what cannot be fully accorded may be tolerated with mutual Brotherly Love to each other according to that Apostolical Canon Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 3.15 16. But if the Episcopal Brethren shall judg the Nonconforming Ministers ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be null and their Baptism Preaching dispensing the Lord's Supper and all other their Ministerial Acts to be meer Nullities then there is no hope of Accord nor of Toleration with mutual Brotherly Love a Schism there is and like to be Concerning which I will set down a Passage which I find related by Mr. Clark in the Life of that eminent Nonconforming Minister Mr. Greenham On a time the Bishop of Eli sent for him to appear about his Nonconformity at which time the Bishop told him that there was a great Schism in the Church asking him where the Blame was to be laid whether upon the Conformists or Nonconformists To which he readily answered that it might lie on either side or on neither side For said he if they loved one another as they ought and would do all good Offices each for other thereby maintaining Love and Concord it lay on neither side otherwise which Party soever makes the Rent the Schism lies upon their score The Bishop was so pleased with this Answer that he dismissed him in peace 10. They who repute Men ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers and their Ministerial Acts to be Nullities are not regular Sons of God's Church in England but a Sect Combination and Party of Men in it who are tainted and defiled with an uncharitable Principle contrary to one Article of the Christian Faith The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints For God's Church in England doth own and embrace the Protestant Ministers in Holland France Helvetia and Geneva ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and the Churches guided by them to be true Churches This hath been the constant Doctrine of God's Church in England all along from the beginning of the Reformation to this day And unless we so hold we yield the Cause to the Papists and overthrow the Protestant Cause The Papists ask Where was our Church before Luther To which the Answer hath been often made That wheresoever upon Earth God had a People believing in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost retaining Baptism and the Lord's Supper for Substance sound and good and living righteously soberly and godly there was our Church We are sure from God's Word and the sound Belief of all Christian People that such a Church God had upon Earth before Luther and will have to the End of the World We do not derive our Church and our Ministry from Rome and the Roman Papacy but from Christ and the holy Scriptures and the Evangelical Covenant by the Tenour whereof upon our sincere Repentance and Incorporation into Christ by lively Faith all things become ours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 22. And consequently whatsoever is true just good any way useful to God and Christ Jesus and the Souls of Men among Papists Jews Turks and Heathens that becomes ours for spiritual Uses to our Souls In leaving the Papacy we have not left Christ and his Church but we have left Idolatry false Worship Superstition and the Way of Damnation and are become a found part of and joined to that holy Catholick Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ the blessed Company of all faithful People built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone Upon this Divine Foundation all the Protestant Churches stand and they who deny Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be valid must will they nill they fall in with the Principles of the Papists against the whole Reformation because the Cause is common 11. The Ministry of the Nonconforming
Brethren doth not stand by the late Act for Toleration but by God's Word that Act doth only privilege and secure them from Penalties and Prosecutions at Man's Bar. They in their Consciences judg some things imposed by the Act of Uniformity flatly sinful though they honour and love conscientious and worthy Conformists who think otherwise Whether they err or not is not the Question in order to Peace all the while it is certain that some things imposed are in their own nature no way necessary to Holiness to Order to Unity to Decency in God's Service to Edification to Peace all which may well be and consist without the things imposed in the Judgment of Christ and his Apostles and the first Churches planted by the Apostles for a Pattern to all succeeding Ages and in the Judgment of all other impartial Christians yea and of Adversaries themselves 12. The Nonconforming Brethren may well be subject to the Bishops and their Courts as Officers appointed by the State touching things that concern the. Office so far forth as they require nothing in their Judgment sinful for Subjection so far is not inconsistent with but rather according to their own Principles In like manner the Episcopal Brethren in Scotland who now are the Nonconforming Party there may well be subject to the Presbyterian way of Discipline as an Ordinance appointed by the State so far forth as nothing is imposed on them which in their Judgment is sinful for Subjection so far is well consistent with their own Principles Supream Magistrates being appointed by God to be nursing Fathers to the Church and to rule all Estates in their Dominions by the Sword all both Bishops and Presbyters in their Dominions must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake both to the King as supream and to such as act legally under him The Validity of Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop 1. ORdination by those who succeed the Apostles of Christ in the most necessary and principal part of their Office must needs be valid But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word Acts 6.4 This is clearly the most necessary and principal part of the Apostles Office because it hath the greatest Aptness and Tendency by Divine Institution to convert and edify Souls to breed and increase in them saving Faith to inlarge and add to God's Church to destroy the Works of the Devil and make all Persons holy and happy through the gracious Concurrence of the Holy Ghost Now it is notorious and undeniably evident that many Presbyters do give themselves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word And therefore Ordination by them without a Bishop must needs be valid 2. God's gracious Promise is I will give you Pastors according to mine Heart which shall feed you with Knowledg and Vnderstanding Jer. 3.15 This is an Evangelical Promise fulfilled by God to Multitudes of Christian People in many parts of the World they are blessed by him with Pastors according to his Heart ordained by able and faithful Presbyters without a Bishop such Pastors as do feed them with heavenly Knowledg and Understanding whose Labours in the Ministry God doth graciously and abundantly succeed and prosper with the Conversion Confirmation and Edification of Souls Satan doth implacably hate their Ministry and they who are not converted and edified by it are left without excuse and cannot but be convicted in Conscience that the Ministry of such Pastors is Divine and from above 3. Christ when he putteth forth his own Sheep he goeth before them and the Sheep follow him for they know his Voice And a Stranger will they not follow but will flee from him for they know not the Voice of Strangers My Sheep says he hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me John 10.4 5 27. Now in many parts of the Christian World Christ doth govern feed and discipline his Sheep that is his Saints by the Ministry of Pastors ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop The Sheep of Christ have spiritual Wisdom and Sagacity whereby they are capable of discerning spiritual things spiritually and can perceive that the Word in the Mouth of such Pastors is the Word of God and the Voice of Christ they are sure that it is so by its Divine and Heavenly Effects upon their Hearts causing them to hate all known Sin and shun the Occasions thereof to love Righteousness to do justly and love Mercy and walk humbly with their God to esteem very highly in Love for their Work 's sake all faithful Ministers and such as labour in the Word and Doctrine and to turn from all such as by their Fruits do plainly shew themselves to be Wolves in Sheeps Clothing Men never sent of God Subverters of Peoples Souls 4. God bids the Prophet Ezekiel to tell the Children of his People and say unto them When I bring the Sword upon a Land if the People of the Land take a Man of their Coasts and set him for their Watchman c. Ezek. 33.2 This plainly intimates that it belongeth to the People as having Souls incomparably precious which God hath commanded them diligently to keep and hath given them charge of with wise Care according to the general Rules of God's Word to take a fit Man and set him for their Watchman Guide and spiritual Pastor Accordingly the People in many parts of the Christian World do take a fit Man ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop and set him for their Watchman and spiritual Guide and partake of his Ministerial Labour and Oversight with great Profit to their Souls and therefore his Ordination must needs be valid 5. God's Word is Let the Presbyters that rule well be counted worthy of double Honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine 1 Tim. 5.17 Whence it is plain that such as labour in the Word and Doctrine are the most eminent Ministers of Christ and Pillars of God's Church because double Honour is especially due to such and not to such as do not labour in the Word and Doctrine though they rule well for though double Honour is due to them also yet it is not especially and eminently due to them that rule well but to them that labour in the Word and Doctrine Now labouring in the Word and Doctrine is a thing in its own nature common to the Bishop and the Presbyter as all agree and it is manifest in Experience that many Presbyters are eminent Labourers in the Word and Doctrine and many Bishops in the Christian World are not they neither labour in the Word and Doctrine nor rule well but rule very ill and teach Idolatry false Worship the Doctrine of Seven Sacraments Salvation partly by Grace and partly by Merit of Works with holding the Cup in the Lord's Supper from the People Purgatory Transubstantiation God's Service in a Tongue not understood by the People they kill God's Saints thinking they do him Service in
so doing this do the Bishops in Popish Countries And therefore certainly according to God's unchangeable Law and the Grounds of Religion Ordination by Orthodox Godly and Exemplary Presbyters who labour in the Word and Doctrine must needs be more Valid more Divine more Apostolical and more Honourable than Ordination by such Bishops as neither rule well nor labour in the Word and Doctrine but they rule very ill and are Antichristian God's Word is Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 God judgeth Ministers according to their Works not by bare Names and Titles and Robes and worldly Grandeur and Princes Favour and earthly Riches and things common to good and bad Men but by inward real Worth and Ministerial Ability and Fidelity honouring those who honour him and those more abundantly who more abundantly honour him and are by his Grace Evangelically worthy of Honour Ephes 5.1 Now we are to be Followers of God as dear Children and as in other Points so particularly in the Point of Ordination prefer a Presbyter who labours in the Word and Doctrine before a non-labouring Bishop 6. The Apostle saith Other Foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 Ordination by able and faithful Presbyters without a Bishop is built upon this Foundation and so it must needs be valid firm and immoveable It is done publickly with Fasting and Prayer with the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery 1 Tim. 4.14 with due Trial and Probation of the Person to be ordained with the Liking and Consent of the People with sound Belief in God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost with express or implicite Renunciation of Arianism Socinianism Pelagianism Popish Idolatry and Superstition and all other Antichristian Sects and false Ways of Salvation with separation of the Person ordained for the Work of the Ministry all his Days with no Imposition of any thing flatly sinful with publick Profession of the Sufficiency and Perfection of the holy Scriptures for the making of us compleat in all the Will of God throughly furnished unto all good Works by the special Grace of Christ with Authority not to be a Minister to this or that particular People only but to be a Minister of Christ related to the whole Church on Earth in general and specially to that particular People to which he hath Call and all this with the Concurrence Countenance and Protection of the higher Powers in Scotland Holland Helvetia Geneva New-England and many other parts of the Christian World If this be not valid Ordination there is no such thing as valid Ordination it must needs be valid in the Judgment of all such as approve the 23d Article of the Church of England 7. They who maintain that Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop is not valid proceed upon this Supposition that the Church of God is a Political Society consisting of two parts essentially a ruling and a ruled Part that while Christ was upon Earth he was the governing Part but he leaving the Earth ordained the Apostles to be his Lieutenants and Peter the Foreman of them all that Bishops succeed the Apostles as to the Government of the Church Universal upon Earth Subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanae Creaturae declaramus definimus omnino effe de necessitate Salutis Bonif. 8. in extrav de majorit obed cap. anam sanctam Col. 212. and are Christ's Ecclesiastical Lieutenants and that the Bishop of Rome is Episcopus primae Sedis the Chief and Foreman of all the Bishops that this Hierarchy and Institution is Divine and all who do not comply with it are guilty of damnable Schism and so dying cannot be saved 8. I shall freely grant that if really the Church of God be what they suppose a Political Society consisting of two Parts essentially a ruling and a ruled Part then all the rest is unavoidable and I shall be obliged to turn Papist and I promise so to do But if this first Point which is the Foundation and Corner-stone of their Fabrick fail and prove ruinous then their whole Cause as built on it must needs fall with it and will they nill they they must confess that Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop is valid and that their Separation from and opposing themselves against such Ministers and the Churches governed by them without a Bishop as an Ecclesiastical Lieutenant is a very great Sin and their Charge of Schism will recoil and light upon themselves 9. I overthrow the Foundation of their Hierarchy by this invincible Argument If the Church of God be a Political Society consisting of two Parts essentially a ruling and a ruled Part then there can be no difference between Moses and Christ between the Law and Grace and then the Christian Religion is destroyed For the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ John 1.17 Moses under God was Political Ruler of the Church in the Wilderness which was the Church of God He commanded them a Law to observe which he had received from God Moses commanded us a Law even the Inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob. And he was King in Jeshurun Deut. 33.4 5. with Sanctions of Rewards and Punishments assuring Happiness to the faithful Observers of it and denouncing God's Curse and Vengeance against the unfaithful Breakers of it But Moses being but a meer Man and not God being also himself a Sinner a Child of Adam conceived and born in Sin and by Nature a Child of Wrath even as others and not sufficient of himself without God's special Grace to think a good Thought he could not give Repentance and Pardon of Sin and the Spirit of Adoption either to himself or any other he could not by supernatural Grace write the Divine Law in the Heart of any and shed abroad God's Love in the Heart and make it holy this is utterly above Moses and the Law to do and effect For if there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded all under Sin that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Gal. 3.21 22. 10. But now Jesus Christ is not another Moses a bare Political Ruler and governing Part of God's Church but he is the Word made Flesh that Man in whom dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily equal in respect of his Deity with the Father and the Holy Ghost the Purchaser of the Church with his own Blood and he gives Repentance and Pardon of Sin and Perseverance and Salvation to Abel Abraham Moses David Peter Paul and the rest of the Elect in all Ages Quia tametsi Christus non ideo ad nos venit ut tanquam alter Moses novae legis pondere nos premeret sed ut jacentes sub onere legis
Church to himself For God being supposed graciously present with him all Wants are made up in God he is all not as exclusive of Instruments Means and second Causes where they may be had but where they cannot be had through no fault of ours but through God's most wise and holy over-ruling Providence and he be graciously with us and talk with us by the invisible Operation of his Word and Spirit and in the multitude of our sad Thoughts within us delight our Souls with his heavenly Comforts here is God's Church This is none other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven Gen. 28.17 17. There are Multitudes of particular Churches upon Earth as the Churches in England in Scotland in Ireland in Holland in Germany and other Places which have particular Guides and Pastors set over them and are distinguished one from another by convenient local Bounds and Limits and Diversity in some external Modes and Customs and Rites tho they all agree in the Substance and Foundation of true Religion Hence according to Scripture we say The Church of God at Ephesus the Church of God at Corinth the Churches of Galatia meaning all the Christian People at Ephesus all the Christian People at Corinth and so forth But this is no proof that God's Church is two Universal and Particular like as it is no proof that the Body of a Man is two Bodies because it is one Body consisting of many Members and that England is two Kingdoms because it is one Kingdom consisting of many Counties Cities Towns and Villages 18. The Church of God is plain and visible to such as believe the Gospel as is the Sun at Noon-day to all that are not blind But who so blind as those that will not see If Men wilfully shut the Eyes of their Minds by Unbelief and call Darkness Light and Light Darkness the Church of God the Synagogue of Satan and the Synagogue of Satan the Church of God they may deceive themselves they cannot deceive him For the Foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 19. We see those Men and Women who are by Profession Christians and of the Church they are as visible as any other People upon Earth But that which makes them sincere Christians inwardly before God we see not but believe for Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 And it is only sincere Christians which are the Church of God so as to be in a State of Salvation Our own godly Sincerity we may be infallibly sure of the Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.18 But we cannot be infallibly sure of the Sincerity of any other in particular neither is such Assurance necessary 20. Again those who deny Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be valid suppose that God's Church doth not consist wholly and only by the Divine Laws but partly by the Divine Laws and partly by Humane Laws But this is a great Error repugnant to the Nature of God's Church for the Church is not partly the Church of God and partly the Church of Man but it is absolutely and entirely the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood Act. 20.28 and therefore it consisteth by the Divine Laws only not as exclusive of wholsom and useful Humane Laws these are subservient but they add no Perfection to the Divine Laws they do not they cannot by themselves bind the Conscience for the Conscience of Man cannot be bound save by something superiour to it which no humane Law by it self can be Indeed we are bound to be subject to the higher Powers not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake and peaceably to observe and conform to humane Laws not repugnant to God's Law But this Bond and Tie upon the Conscience doth not arise from Man's Law but from God's Law only this is superiour to the Conscience The Church is absolutely and entirely the Body of Christ his Wife and Spouse and not partly the Body of Christ his Wife and Spouse and partly the Body Wife and Spouse of this or that Man or number of Men. And therefore she is to be wholly governed by the Laws of Christ her only Head and Husband and by no other But then the more observant she is of Christ's Laws and obedient to his Divine Commands she will be the more observant of Second-Table-Duties and careful to render to all both Superiours Equals and Inferiours their just Dues and all that lies in her to live peaceably with all Men and to give no Offence to any because all these are Duties laid upon her by the Divine Laws 21. The Voice of God's Church and every part thereof is Psal 62.5 6. God only is my Rock and my Salvation Not partly God and partly Man Bishops Presbyters Princes Parliaments Convocations Synods an Arm of Flesh humane Laws Canons and Decrees But God only is my Rock and my Salvation he is alsufficient he is all in all while we cleave only and wholly to him and observe his Laws and keep in his good Way we are safe and happy no Evil can befal us because he is Almighty to protect and provide for us and give us every good thing and will not fail so to do But if we trust partly in God and partly in Man and ascribe any the least part of the Glory belonging to God and his Law to Man and his Law and contend that the Being and Well-being of the Church from first to last doth not consist by God's Law only but partly by his Law and partly by Man's Law then we are guilty of spiritual Idolatry and Adultery we debase God and deify Man we make God and Man coequal and coordinate Causes of the Churches Peace and Safety both temporal and eternal which is a transcendent Vice and plucks up all true Religion by the Roots and makes God's Church adulterous partly Christ's Wife and partly the Wife of the Pope of this or that humane Law-maker which Christian Ears cannot bear to hear 22. Again the same Adversaries of the Validity of Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop are constrained to hold them by a Popish distinction between the Power of Order and the Power of Jurisdiction confessing that by God's Law the Bishop and the Presbyter have equal Authority as to the Power of Order but not as to the Power of Jurisdiction But this Doctrine and Distinction God's Law hath not and therefore it may not be received For the present Dispute doth nearly touch that great Article of our Faith The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints And it is a sure Rule consented to by all sound Divines that as to Articles of Faith no Doctrine or Distinction not contained in God's Word may be admitted But God's Word hath not this
their pleasure 19. But now if this or that Ecclesiastical Court should claim to it self sovereign and independent Jurisdiction and should summon the King and Parliament to appear at its Tribunal under pain of Excommunication would they think themselves obliged to obey and make their Appearance and be uncovered and submit to the Sentence of the Ecclesiastical Judg as some of the Roman Emperors have done to the Pope even to the holding of his Stirrup and letting the Pope tread upon the Neck of the Emperor I trow not 20. By which it is plain that the Lordship and Jurisdiction of the Bishops and their Courts is not Spiritual but Civil and Temporal Humane Law ordains it and Humane Law may take it away lawful it may be but Divine it is not But the Evangelical Ministry consisting in Authority to preach the Gospel to dispense the Sacraments to labour in the Word and Doctrine to oversee the Flock of Christ and perpetuate the Church to the End of the World this Evangelical Ministry which is common to the Bishop and the Presbyter is not Humane but Divine it is not Civil and Temporal but Spiritual and Supernatural it doth not subsist by an Arm of Flesh but by the Word of God against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail for Jesus Christ who is the Author of it is the Living God King of Kings and Lord of Lords 〈…〉 and the only Potentate who will have a Church upon 〈…〉 Number of faithful Ones with whom he hath promised to be unto the End of the World Hitherto he hath made good his Word and been too hard for all his Adversaries Psal 2 Blessed are all they that trust in him 21. If indeed the Church of God were not a Spiritual but a Political Society then all both Bishops and Presbyters must needs be Spiritual Lords and Ecclesiastical Monarchs But it is as certain that the Church of God is a Spiritual and not a Political Society as it is certain that it is the Church of God by Faith in Christ and not the Church of Man 22. 〈…〉 be Processus in infinitum infinite Proceeding For 〈…〉 we must needs come to some first in whom the Church 〈…〉 was penitent Adam and Eve the common Parents of us 〈…〉 it is not to be doubted but that God after their Fall gave them Repentance and Pardon through Faith in Christ the promised Seed and so made them a spiritual Society and the first Church of the Redeemed as Dr. Field in his first Book of the Church chap. 4. sheweth agreeably to God's Word and the Grounds of Religion Gen. 3.15 But Adam and Eve two Persons one Husband and one Wife could not be a Political Society because they were a Conjugal Society as they were Husband and Wife and a Spiritual Society as they were true Believers in Christ the promised Seed both which Societies differ in kind from Political Society as all agree 23. Upon the increase and multiplication of sincere Converts and Persons regenerate there was a continnal Addition to the Church of such as should be saved Acts 2.47 The Incarnation Life Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ doth not alter the intrinsecal Nature of God's Church which is the same for substance in all Ages the Saints before Christ being saved through Faith in him as promised and the Saints after Christ being saved through Faith in him as exhibited he being the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 The Apostles Commission was not to make a new Church differing in kind and substance from what had been before but to preserve that Church which was already in being and which Christ left on Earth at his Ascension and by their Apostolical Labours to inlarge and add to it and to make believing Jews and Gentiles one holy Society in Christ not a Political Society ruled by the Apostles as Ecclesiastical Monarchs and Spiritual Lords but a Heavenly Society ruled by the Apostles as spiritual Guides and Overseers through Faith in Christ the sole Lord and Head of the Church 24. Anciently God led his People like a Flock by the Hand◠〈◊〉 Moses and Aaron Psal 77.20 And so he leads his People now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—lock by the Hand of the Prince and the Pastor the Prince as Political Governour ruling by the Sword and the Pastor as Spiritual Governour ruling by the Word by holy Doctrine by dispensing Baptism and the Lord's Supper according to Christ's Institution by making himself an Ensample to the Flock So that tho the Pastor be a Ruler and Governour yet he is not a Political Governour he is not an Ecclesiastical Prince a Spiritual Lord an ambitious Prelate but a Minister of Christ And to make the Pastor by Divine Law a Political Governour of the Church is to make him a Pope an Antichristian Subverter of the lawful Supremacy of the Prince and a sacrilegious Invader of the Sovereignty of God by whom Princes rule Prov. 8.15 25. It is very evident that the Apostles themselves were but Presbyters tho they were not ordinary and common Presbyters they were furnished with extraordinary Gifts and Graces for the Work of the Ministry and infallibly inspired in the execution of their Office that 〈◊〉 might be Master Builders in God's Church But still they were bâ—â— Presbyters though extraordinary and preeminent ones and therefore Peter the first and Foreman of all the Apostles writing to ordinary and common Presbyters stiles himself Com-Presbyter their Fellow-Presbyter 1 Pet. 5.1 And if those Bishops of our time who claim to be Successors of the Apostles and superiour in Office Power and Authority to common Presbyters would but join Apostolical Wisdom Meekness Goodness Piety Love to the Truth Labour in the Word and Doctrine and Constancy in Well-doing with Apostolical Power and Superiority we would all reverence them as Apostles of Christ as Divine Officers as most worthy Instruments of God's Glory and think all the Churches happy in their Ministry But while they contend for Apostolical Power Preeminence and Superiority by Divine Right as to the Government of the Church in ordinary and suffer common Presbyters and Curates to excel them in the most principal part of the Apostolical Office which is labouring in the Word and Doctrine and lay the Peace and Unity of God's Church upon weak and beggarly Elements Gal. 4.9 upon things no ways necessary to Holiness and Unity in Christian Faith Hope and Love and had rather be a Sect and Party by themselves than unite with their Christian Brethren upon Apostolical Divine and Scriptural Terms in truth they undo their own Cause grieve the Hearts of the Righteous encourage the Wicked and give great advantage to the Papists and bring our Nation low and greatly sin against God and their own Souls 26. It 〈…〉 Rule and Maxim consented to by all that in aequali jure melior 〈…〉 possidentis where two or more are Competitors for a thing and one only can have it it is to be adjudged to him that is in possession that so there may be an end of all Strife and the Course of the World may be in quiet Now I would know of those Protestant Brethren who condemn the Papacy and yet contend that the Universal Church on Earth is a Political Society consisting of two Parts a ruling and a ruled Part which was the sole supreme ruling Part of the Universal Church on Earth at the beginning of the Reformation by Luther 1. They cannot say and prove that Christ was for Christ is God and God cannot be a bare ruling Part because a Part as such is imperfect is not all In all But God cannot be imperfect he cannot but be infinitely perfect all all 1 Cor. 15.28 He worketh all in all 1 Cor. 12.6 Of him 〈◊〉 through him and to him are all things Rom. 11.36 To make him a meer Political Ruler and governing Part of the Church is to make him a meer Man a worldly Monarch an impotent base and precarious God 2. Of necessity the Bishop of Rome was the sole supream ruling Part of the Universal Church Episcopus primae Sedis as Peter among the Apostles chief Ecclesiastical Monarch for no other laid claim to the Ecclesiastical Supremacy no other was in possession of it and therefore upon the Principles of those Brethren against whom I now argue the Protestants universally and the Church of England particularly were guilty of damnable Schism and Rebellion in breaking of from and setting themselves against the Papal Supremacy and are bound to turn Papists as of necessity to Salvation and to the Being and Unity of the Universal Church which according to their Principles cannot consist without a ruling Part without a Political Governour that is in plain English without a Pope 27. But if this Principle of theirs that the Church of God is a Political and not a Spiritual Society fail and prove ruinous as it needs must or I am deceived in the Grounds of Religion and do not understand the Points of the Catechism then the Ordination of Presbyter by Presbyters without a Bishop can never be proâ—â—â—…â—alid And those of the Church of England who hold the 〈…〉 Ministers because ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers of Christ and consequently the 〈…〉 to be Nullities do greatly err 〈…〉 one 〈…〉 holy Catholick Church the 〈…〉 all such other 〈…〉 ordination by a Bishop 〈…〉 FINIS